Hospice Nurse (Peterborough & Facilities)

Job Description

Job Description

Description:

Hospice Registered Nurse – Make a Meaningful Difference When It Matters Most

Are you a compassionate Registered Nurse who wants to provide care that goes beyond clinical needs? Do you value building meaningful relationships with patients and families while helping them navigate one of life’s most important transitions?

Home Healthcare, Hospice & Community Services is looking for a Hospice Registered Nurse (Peterborough & Facilities) to provide skilled, compassionate nursing care to patients and families throughout the hospice experience. In this role, you’ll combine clinical expertise with education, care coordination, and emotional support to promote comfort, dignity, autonomy, and quality of life.

As part of our interdisciplinary hospice team, you’ll work closely with patients, families, caregivers, physicians, and other healthcare professionals to develop individualized plans of care and ensure patients receive coordinated, responsive support wherever they call home.

Why Join Us?

Hospice nursing offers the opportunity to practice patient-centered nursing while developing meaningful relationships with patients and their families. You’ll have the chance to use your clinical judgment, communication skills, and compassion to help patients remain comfortable and supported while guiding families through the end-of-life experience.

What Makes This Role Meaningful:

• Relationship-Based Care: Build meaningful connections with patients and families while providing individualized care based on their goals, needs, and preferences.
• Whole-Person Support: Address physical, psychosocial, environmental, and spiritual needs as part of comprehensive hospice care.
• Clinical Autonomy: Use your nursing judgment to assess patient needs, manage symptoms, provide skilled interventions, and respond to changes in condition.
• Collaborative Care: Work closely with physicians and members of the interdisciplinary hospice team to coordinate safe and effective patient care.
• Support for Families: Provide education, counseling, and guidance to caregivers navigating disease progression, symptom management, grief, loss, and end-of-life needs.
• Professional Growth: Maintain and expand your clinical knowledge through continuing education, quality improvement, mentoring, and collaboration with experienced colleagues.

Key Responsibilities

• Perform comprehensive admission and ongoing assessments of patients, including physical, psychosocial, environmental, and spiritual needs.
• Develop, implement, evaluate, and update individualized plans of care based on patient needs, goals, and clinical standards.
• Provide skilled nursing interventions within the RN scope of practice, including wound care and symptom management.
• Monitor patient condition and promptly communicate significant changes to physicians and members of the interdisciplinary team.
• Educate and support patients, families, and caregivers regarding disease progression, symptom management, medications, physical care, available resources, and end-of-life needs.
• Promote patient and family autonomy while providing compassionate support throughout the hospice experience.
• Coordinate patient care, including case management, discharge planning, community resources, and other appropriate services.
• Collaborate with physicians, hospice staff, facility personnel, and other healthcare providers to provide safe and uninterrupted care.
• Provide hospice services in patients’ homes and, as needed, in long-term care and assisted living facilities.
• Maintain timely, accurate, and complete clinical documentation.
• Delegate appropriate nursing tasks and provide ongoing supervision and follow-up in accordance with professional and regulatory requirements.
• Participate in care planning, case conferences, interdisciplinary team meetings, quality improvement activities, and other meetings necessary to coordinate patient care.
• Maintain established productivity standards, including an average of 4–5 patient visits per day, as applicable.
• Participate in required on-call, weekend, holiday, and after-hours coverage.
• Follow agency requirements related to infection control, patient safety, confidentiality, emergency preparedness, compliance, and care coordination.

Work Environment & Physical Requirements

This position involves regular travel between patient locations and provides care in a variety of home and facility environments. The role requires frequent sitting, standing, walking, bending, kneeling, reaching, and other physical activity associated with providing nursing care. The Hospice RN must be able to lift and carry up to approximately 50 pounds and safely use medical equipment and personal protective equipment.

Because care is provided in patients’ homes and other community settings, employees may encounter varying environmental conditions, including animals, smoke, odors, weather conditions, blood and body fluids, medications, needles/sharps, and other potential exposures.

Required

• Graduate of a state-approved nursing program.
• Current New Hampshire Registered Nurse license in good standing.
• Current CPR certification.
• Successful completion of an approved IV course or equivalent experience/competency.
• Valid driver's license, reliable access to a vehicle during working hours, current vehicle registration, and required automobile liability insurance.
• Willingness to complete an approved hospice volunteer training program.
• Ability to use electronic medical record technology and securely manage electronic protected health information.
• Demonstrated clinical judgment, communication skills, emotional stability, flexibility, and sensitivity when working with patients and families experiencing serious illness and end-of-life needs.
• Ability to respect and work effectively with individuals and families from diverse cultural, spiritual, and personal backgrounds.
• Ability to provide compassionate care while supporting patients and families through grief, loss, and end-of-life decisions.

Preferred

• Minimum of two years of professional nursing experience in hospice and/or home care.
• Hospice/palliative care and/or oncology certification, or willingness to obtain certification.